Ethics of Stewardship As I write about ethics of stewardship, today I am focusing on things outside our walls. Next time I will focus on use of building space. It was not until the late 19th century that grass lawns…
Snow Trillium Spring has officially blossomed! On St. Patrick’s Day, I managed to get out to a special place in the woods where some of the first flowers of spring peek through the leaf litter. It has been a mild…
Even as a young adult, I firmly believed in the likelihood of living happily ever after. Growing up in an era and environment which included many large families, though mine was not, I had naïve expectations about marriage and children.…
Landscape waste pick-up for 2016 will begin on the first Friday in April. Boy Scout Troop 11 is again selling trash bags from March 21 to April 11. Contact any Troop 11 scout or Bob DeSutter, scout leader at 674-6668.…
There are times when one needs to take a slow walk to appreciate the language of history: to understand the passion, foresight and insight of those who have gone before. Now, I am going to admit that I am neither…
“That guy pulled a real Stanislavski!” exclaimed Frank Gifford years ago during a Monday Night Football broadcast. The reference was to Constantine Stanislavski, the Russian theater director, acting teacher and founder of the Moscow Art Theater (MAT) and a punter…
Arts Beat
April 1: The Brazilionaires “Live at the Five Spot.” 5:30 p.m. Contemporary Art Center. 674-6822. April 1: The Receiver, Shannon Moore Shepherd and Moody Womb, presented by Diplomatic Relations at 8 p.m. at Pizza Works. 682-5446. April 1: Three and…
Painting a Picture Called Peoria As residents of Peoria, we are all painting a picture of our city that is going to be hung on the wall for all the world to see. What do we want that picture to…
Labor Roundup
A coalition of 200+ labor, community, civil rights, women’s, human rights and environmental groups will descend on Washington, D.C., April 11-18 to campaign for restoring U.S. democracy, the AFL-CIO announced. In a statement, the labor federation said its “Democracy Spring”…
Neighborhood Notes
Kip Strasma, president of the Downtown Living Neighborhood Association (DLNA) says, “With hundreds of people potentially moving downtown in 2016 and 2017, the DLNA is working to produce a resident ‘welcome packet.’ The idea is to provide helpful information about…
High blood pressure affects one out of every three adults. About 70 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, but only half have their blood pressure under control. High blood pressure has been called the silent killer,…
Elder Care Concerns
BY DAVE WEIMAN The “universal worker” and the “consistent staffing” concepts are two best practices that are found in skilled nursing and assisted living homes. Both can improve the direct care given residents. A universal worker, sometimes referred to as…
Islamic Foundation of Peoria hosts interfaith discussion on diversity
The public is invited for a meal and discussion from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. March 7 at Islamic Foundation of Peoria, 823 W. Salaam Drive. “We want to challenge the notion that Muslims are strange and mosques are closed,”…
Fairbanks leaving neighborhoods active
Whether emptying street-corner trash cans or settling into an emptying office, Steve Fairbanks’ sigh and smile greet visitors like a guy with secrets he’s eager to share. This time of year has featured “States of” speeches — the Union, the…
State’s attorney declines to reopen Heidelberg case
Peoria County State’s Attorney Jerry Brady said he will not reopen a case that sent Cleve Heidelberg to prison 45 years ago despite information from a Chicago attorney and local investigator that the police investigation and prosecution of the case…
Peoria’s “revolving door of poison” — Childhood lead poisoning devastates families & communities
Flint, Mich., pushed childhood lead poisoning onto a national stage, but Peoria’s lead poisoning levels are equally “frightening” and will hurt Peoria for generations to come, one health care provider said. “We have a revolving door of poison,” said Dr.…
POLITICAL BULL
With that headline, readers will probably think I’m going to talk about the presidential debates, Republican and Democrat. Not so. I’m referring to those local and area office holders who’ve been on television and in the newspaper talking about helping…
Five years after the publication of Peorian John Kelly’s “The Other Law of Moses,” the 250-page paperback seems as relevant as ever. Progressive populist Bernie Sanders talks about income inequality and college debt; conservative populist Donald Trump rails about overpriced…
Scalia’s death means a reprieve from Supreme Court’s bifurcated thinking on free speech
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death leaves the court balanced between conservative and liberal positions on free speech rights and unions. Scalia and the court’s other conservatives comprised a winning five-block coalition that had been expected to issue a conservative…
Save Our Parks!
Funding for our local and national parks is in jeopardy. People who love the outdoors and enjoy our parks must speak out against a possible disastrous decision to eliminate funding and protection for parks. At least 60 percent of Illinois…
OpEd
YOGA: Good for what ails you? What if we could avoid degenerative bone loss with some simple yoga poses done at home? By Lisa Nelson Raabe I bet you have heard the sound of this word recently – yoga. We…
Ethics of Stewardship I am honored to be invited to write for the “Community Word.” I would like to focus on the concept of stewardship within our religious communities. Stewardship for me focuses on how we use the resources we…